Wanstead teenager Grace Wolstenholme invites you to watch her YouTube channel for an insight into life with cerebral palsy. In the sixth of a series of articles, Grace recalls meeting the holiday armadillo
Hi everyone. It’s me again, Grace. This time, I thought I’d talk about Christmas and how different it was and how different things still are as this year ends and 2021 begins.
OMG! It has been so different. Normally, people’s family get together, but that couldn’t happen this time because of COVID. But the way my mum thinks – which is dark, but true – if you want to have Christmas with your family, that could then be your last Christmas altogether! So, we all had to do Christmas differently.
For me, it was the first Christmas in 10 years that I haven’t done a Christmas show at Chicken Shed Theatre. Chicken Shed changed my life. Before joining, I hated leaving the house as I was embarrassed for people to see me because I was ‘different’. But I’ve been doing the shows now since I was seven, so it felt really strange not to. And here’s something stupid: Capital FM do a concert every Christmas called the Jingle Bell Ball and I’ve been going to that for the past four years, and for the past three, I’ve been to both of the nights! I absolutely love that concert because there are 10 different singers each night.
I’m a huge fan of the TV programme Friends, so last year I got to go to the Friends festival and – OMG – it was so sick. Basically, if you’re not that obsessed with Friends, you’d probably think ‘whatever’, but I thought it was amazing, especially for a photo shoot. There was only one thing I wasn’t that impressed with, but it’s quite silly. Basically, there wasn’t a lift at the main entrance, so I had to go round the back to the lift there. I was fine with that, but then when I got home, I watched a YouTube video of the festival and I had missed the walkway with a red carpet and pictures of the actors. So, I was a little disappointed I missed out on that, but I was able to recreate the credits and I got to do a photo shoot in a huge Friends mirror frame! I met the holiday armadillo (fellow fans will appreciate that) and there was a massive cinema screen that played Friends all day.
Normally, I don’t like to eat or drink out because I get insecure about being fed, but I ate there, so that was an achievement! Well, because I could eat in front of watching Friends it took my mind off people watching me, and anyway, why would they watch me being fed when they can watch Friends! Then I got to go on the set tour and that was amazing.
So yeah, that’s all I’ve got for you this month. I hope you had a lovely and safe Christmas and I will see you in February.
